A WOMAN who was shot four times in the face with an air rifle says a breakdown in discipline is fuelling the rise of anti-social behaviour in Weymouth.

Denyse Cameron, 50, was lucky to keep her sight after four youths fired shots into her shop on the Esplanade.

The police told her any prosecution was likely to fail because of a lack of evidence.

They also said she would probably need protection because the youths were from a known family.

Mrs Cameron says law-abiding people in Weymouth are being left at the mercy of yobs because of a major breakdown in discipline and respect.

She said the attack at her shop, South Coast Leather, was a terrifying experience.

"I saw the four lads coming up to the shop one evening and the next thing I knew I had a massive pain in my face," she said.

"I realised they were shooting pellets and some of them were hitting me.

"One of them ricocheted off my glasses and the others left me with scratches."

When police arrested four teenagers, one with a knife, they asked Mrs Cameron if she wanted to press charges.

"I told them of course I did," she said.

"But they said the youths could not be charged because the CCTV footage wasn't clear enough evidence and they couldn't find a gun."

"I was incensed and told them I didn't want them to get away with it."

"But I don't blame the police because they can only do what the law allows."

Mrs Cameron, who lives in Chickerell, said there were practical solutions to the problem of anti-social behaviour.

"If I had the power I would get someone to retrain me and let me teach infants the basics of respect.

"If my daughter had come home with the police I would have taken her by the scruff of the neck back to the scene and made her apologise.

Mrs Cameron has now joined Mums' Army - a group set up by a national magazine to campaign against anti-social behaviour.

Some members of Mum's Army have stood as candidates in local elections but Mrs Cameron said that politics was not for her.

She said: "I would vote for somebody who offered to bring discipline and order back to the streets."

A spokesman for Dorset Police said: "We can confirm that police officers were called to South Coast Leather after a report that a woman in the shop had been hit in the face and injured by a pellet.

"Four young Weymouth boys were stopped, searched and interviewed by the police officers.

"No pellet gun was found and as it was not possible to identify who was responsible for injury to the lady no further action was possible. All four boys were taken home by police and spoken to in front of their parents."